Secret Squirrel is a cartooncharacter created by Hanna-Barbera and also the name of his segment in the The Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel Show, which debuted in 1965. He was given his own show in 1966, but was reunited with Atom Ant for one more season in 1967. Secret first appeared in a prime-time animated special called The World of Atom Ant and Secret Squirrel, which aired on NBC on September 12, 1965. The show's half-hours included three individual cartoon segments: "Secret Squirrel", "Squiddly Diddly" and "Winsome Witch".

Secret Squirrel was a parody of the spy genre, and most of the shorts parodied elements of the James Bond films. Secret Squirrel was also known as "Agent 000". In 1993, thirteen new Secret Squirrel cartoons appeared in-between the 2 Stupid Dogs episodes, with the updated title Super Secret Secret Squirrel and a new cast.

Secret Squirrel (voiced by Mel Blanc) serves as a secret agent, taking orders from his superior, Double-Q (voiced by Paul Frees), of the International Sneaky Service. His designation is Agent 000.[1] Secret Squirrel is assisted in his adventures by fez-wearing sidekick Morocco Mole (also voiced by Paul Frees impersonating Peter Lorre).[2]

The pair fights crime and evil enemy agents using cunning and a variety of spy gadgets, including a machine gun cane, a collection of guns kept inside Secret's trench coat which is also bulletproof, and a variety of devices concealed in his fedora (which he almost never removes).

Secret Squirrel's recurring arch-enemy is Yellow Pinkie (also voiced by Frees), a parody of both Auric Goldfinger from Goldfinger and of Sydney Greenstreet's portrayal of the Kasper Gutman character from Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon. The last episodes introduced Hy-Spy (again voiced by Frees), the master of scientific criminology.

The show's debut was on September 12, 1965 in The World of Atom Ant and Secret Squirrel prime-time special on NBC.

The original series was broadcast from October 2, 1965 to September 2, 1967. Secret Squirrel had his own show in 1966 and was then reunited with Atom Ant in 1967 until 1968. Episodes were broadcast in syndication and as part of The Banana Splits variety and compilation series. It used to aired from time to time on Boomerang from April 1, 2000 until March 2, 2014.

Years later in 1993, Secret Squirrel and Morocco Mole were revived in 1993 for back-up segments of TBS Superstation's animated series 2 Stupid Dogs. Titled Super Secret Secret Squirrel, these new cartoons featured Secret Squirrel (voiced by Jess Harnell) and Morocco Mole (voiced by Jim Cummings). 2 Stupid Dogs creator Donovan Cook was asked by then-new Hanna-Barbera president Fred Seibert to choose a classic studio cartoon to revive within the main show, and Super Secret Secret Squirrel was the result. After Cook guided the updated design with artists Paul Rudish and Craig McCracken, supervising producer Larry Huber, the "adult supervision" assigned by Seibert, was responsible for all further aspects of these cartoons. He assigned animator David Feiss to the storyboards to hilarious results, with the conventional wisdom that the cartoons had superior humor to the original, somewhat drab films. The reason to revive Secret Squirrel is because it was one of Cook's favorite Hanna-Barbera shows.

These segments featured different artwork compared to the original 1960s cartoons. All the characters inhabiting the world were now animals. Double-Q (voiced by Tony Jay), now simply called "the Chief", is now a cape buffalo with a cherry-scented calabash pipe. Yellow Pinkie (voiced by Jim Cummings) is now a sea lion and renamed Goldflipper and, despite being Secret Squirrel's arch-enemy, he only appeared in one episode of this version. These new shorts also introduced Penny (voiced by Kimmy Robertson), a female squirrel assistant to Double-Q (à laMiss Moneypenny) as a possible love interest for Secret Squirrel (as hinted at in the episodes "Queen Bea" and "Quark"). Morocco's color scheme has been redesigned, had his wardrobe's palette swapped, wears sunglasses and has an evil twin brother named Scirocco Mole (voiced by Jess Harnell). With the exception of "Egg" and "Agent Penny", every episode is named after the foes Secret Squirrel and Morocco Mole encounters. Secret's art design remained relatively intact, but with a more modern design than the previous animated series' version of the character, featuring hard lines and sharper angles, giving him a leaner and more slick style.

His hat has a slightly different style. Secret also loses his signature lisp given to him by Blanc's portrayal similar to Sylvester the Cat (although it was paid homage in the episode "Goldflipper" where Secret spoke with it to mock Morocco's sudden lisp in that episode), but Harnell's portrayal gives Secret an update suave voice in reminiscent of him sometimes breaking into his Wakko Warner voice without the Scouse accent, most notably when he is screaming. Cummings' portrayal of Morocco makes his voice less of a Peter Lorre impersonation but high-pitched with the kept Moroccan accent. The Chief speaks with a British accent now as evidenced by his catchphrase; "Good show Secret". Apparently, in the 1993 revival, the personality and traits of Secret and Morocco have been switched opposed to their original '60s personality. Morocco was more of a chauffeur and is quite intelligent, but in the revival he is more independent as a sidekick, became too much bungling and is more childlike, often getting injured in most scenes, which was Secret's department in the '60s series, and often saying his catchphrase "Okay!". Secret is more portrayed as a bumbling hero in the original while in the new version, Secret is capable of doing his job right and at some aspects can be part-workaholic and part-easy going, able to get the job done.

Most of his injuries either come from his job or are from the influence of Morocco's actions. Like the original, he has a gadget used for almost everything but mostly relies more on his mixed martial arts combat. Despite the changes, the new shorts still had a big fanbase and a cult following. This new series seems to have fallen under the villain of the week formula and Secret Squirrel and Morocco Mole have once appeared on a 2 Stupid Dogs story in the episode "Let's Make a Right Price", which was an advertisement for Granny's Joybone Doggy Treats, and Little Dog and Big Dog appeared on a Secret Squirrel story in the episode "Scirocco Mole" as contestants in a game show.

An evil sea lion named Goldflipper (voiced by Jim Cummings) creates a giant gold magnet steals golden teeth, which calls the "Molar-Acoustic-Synctro-Bicuspid-Dental-Magnetic-Electro-Platt-Conductive-Postiviser". Secret Squirrel goes under cover as a Squirrely Girly scout to thwart the evil plan and recover all the stolen teeth.

2

"Greg"

Roberts Gannaway

September 12, 1993

Secret Squirrel investigates a mysterious candy disappearance caused by a gingerbread man named Greg (voiced by Charlie Adler) who is using ants to steal all the candy which he will use to make a giant candy monster.

3

"Quark"

Roberts Gannaway

September 19, 1993

A sub-atomic quark known as the Quark (voiced by Roger Rose) is destroying important monuments in order to make an amphitheater out of North America. Secret Squirrel has to shrink down to an atomic size to stop him.

4

"Queen Bea"

Mark Saraceni

September 26, 1993

Queen Bea (voiced by B.J. Ward) and her honey bee minions capture Secret Squirrel during a Honey Bank robbery so that Queen Bea can force Secret Squirrel's hand in marriage after trapping Morocco in a honey container. Penny comes to his rescue.

5

"Hot Rodney"

Roberts Gannaway

October 3, 1993

During a race against a racing rooster named Hot Rodney (voiced by Jeff Bennett), Secret Squirrel is waylaid by Hot Rodney's orchestrated kidnapping of Morocco.

6

"Egg"

Roberts Gannaway

October 10, 1993

Morocco Mole receives a mandatory special assignment to hold a "rare" egg for at least three seconds, but has a hard time doing so.

7

"Chameleon"

Roberts Gannaway

October 17, 1993

Expensive paintings are stolen on the night of a museum gala. Secret Squirrel discovers an art-loving, sophisticated chameleon known as ("Panoleon") P. Chameleon (voiced by Roddy McDowall) has pilfered all the art for his own personal collection. Secret Squirrel and Morocco Mole then outsmart him by trapping in a room full of "modern" art which the Chameleon despises.

Secret Squirrel, Morocco Mole and the Chief get their bodies mixed in a descrambler owned by a Platypus (Roger Rose) and have a hard time catching him in their states.

11

"Doctor O"

Mark Saraceni and Jim Turner

November 14, 1993

Secret Squirrel has to stop an opossum named Doctor O from blocking out the sun with a satellite, but he has to do it blind in total darkness. The constant darkness keeps preventing the Chief from using the bathroom.

12

"One Ton"

Lane Raichert

November 21, 1993

Secret Squirrel attempts to stop a crazy giant panda called One-Ton (Yoshio Be) from tearing up Chinatown, but Secret has orders from the Chief not to harm him because pandas are endangered. So Secret has to figure out how to make One-Ton beat himself up.

13

"Voodoo Goat"

Roberts Gannaway

November 28, 1993

Secret Squirrel must stop an evil shaman Voodoo Goat (John Garry) who makes a voodoo doll of the Chief in order to gain power over the agency.

Secret Squirrel and Morocco Mole appear in Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law with Secret Squirrel voiced by Bill Farmer and Morocco Mole voiced by Maurice LaMarche. Secret Squirrel first appears in the Season 2 episode "Blackwatch Plaid" as a client of Harvey's arrested for flashing people (a play on Secret's famous trenchcoat). Secret Squirrel then again in the Season 3 episode "Bird Girl of Guantanamole", hiring Harvey to get Morocco Mole out of Guantanamo Bay detention camp. Secret Squirrel also has a brief cameo in the series finale "The Death of Harvey".

Hanna-Barbera Records released a Secret Squirrel and Morocco Mole: Superspy (HLP-2046) LP album in 1966. It featured an adventure with several songs. Mel Blanc voiced Secret Squirrel, but Daws Butler voiced Morocco Mole instead of Paul Frees.

The episode "Sub Swiper" is available on the DVD Saturday Morning Cartoons 1960s Vol. 1. On November 3, 2015, Warner Archive released The Secret Squirrel Show: The Complete Series on DVD in region 1 as part of their Hanna–Barbera Classics Collection. This is a Manufacture-on-Demand (MOD) release, available exclusively through Warner's online store and Amazon.com.[3]

Secret Squirrel: The Complete Series was made available for download via iTunes in August 2016.